. >> susie: a critical issue in this fiscal cliff debate: jobs. if the government cuts spending and rais taxes all at once on january 1, the economy will lose 2.5 million job sylvia hall reports. >> reporter: in this baltimore lab, dr. curt civin researches leukemia in search of a cure. it's hardly a political job, but these days he's keeping a close eye on the federal budget. you see, the sequester-- the severe spending cuts headed our way in january-- could affect him. if it takes affect, it will cut an estimated $2.5 billion from the national institutes of health. dr. civin and researchers like him depend on grants from the institutes for funding. >> it's tough enough to cure cancer. tough battle. going to take a long time. to cut the funding, to have unevenness, to take a project all the way, and then say, "well, we can't scale this up the way we should, or even maintain it the way we should?" how can we do that. and it's not good for us. >> reporter: dr. civin says labs across the country may have to lay people off if their grants are defunde